OK you IM'ers a little help please.

Hi Bridget, Looking at your splits, I would say a good starting point might be working on building a little endurance in your fly. It seems like not only do you have a big difference between your first and second 50s, but you seem to be tired enough after fly that your 100 back is actually quite a bit slower than your 100 ***. Even for a good breaststroker like yourself, the magnitude of that difference seems to suggest to me that you are using your backstroke to recover from your fly. Let me know if I'm wrong though! A good starting point might be to have a goal of including at least 400-600 yards of some kind of fly (kick, drill, or swim) into every workout you do. You can start by doing some sets of 25s fly in combination with 2 x 100 fly drill and maybe some 50s dolphin kick. Build up until it's not a struggle to complete 100 fly. See if you can get yourself to the point where you can finish a 200 fly, even if you die a little at the end. If you can do this, I think you will see an improvement in your second 50 of fly and in your backstroke times. Also, continue to do work your strength, ***, and your distance base. Do IM sets and work your transitions. Anyway, I think this is getting kind of long, but I hope this helps a little!

Thanks chlorini That was not lengthy at all:wiggle: I am at the point where I can do a 50 fly and not hurt to bad and I am constantly working on backstroke. Do you think that doing things like 250 im's (75fly/75back/50br/50fr) might help or are there other ways to do sets that "target" the last 50 fly and 1st 50 back...I was doing 150's today that were 75fly/50back/25br... I think that you are right on target with your assessments as I tend to take the 1st 50fly as 'hard as I can' then DIE on the 2nd 50 and use the 1st 50back to recover....as for the idea of a 200 fly...wow:lmao: I think that is a good idea BUT I am a little far away from that right now....thanks for the input and I am trying to add more fly/free kicking to my workouts as that is a weak point for me. Any good fly drills would be appreciated. Thanks again!

Hi Bridget, I think the kinds of IM sets you mention would be helpful, yes. I also wonder about what you said with your strategy of taking out the first 50 fly fast and then dying. If that is the case, you might benefit from doing some negative split or descending sets in practice in all four strokes. You might find that if you took out the first 50 fly at a more relaxed pace, you would be able to more evenly split that first 100 and have more energy for backstroke. It might be worth playing around with. You could do a set like this: 3 x 50 fly, descend 1-3 3 x 50 back, desc. 1-3 2 x 100 fly, second 1 faster than the first 2 x 100 back, second faster 200 IM, build each stroke (so the first 25 is easier and the second is faster in each) 3 x 50 ***, desc. 3 x 50 free, sec. 2 x 100 ***, second 1 faster 2 x 100 free, second 1 faster 400 IM, build each stroke (first 50 easy to moderate, second 50 faster) As for fly drills, do you think you have a specific weakness in your stroke you need to work on? One arm fly gives you a chance to work on popping your hips up and pressing your chest down with each stroke while being less tiring. Oddly enough, breaststroke arms with dolphin kick (supposedly a *** drill) is also good for fly if you tend to get your timing off when you breathe. Those aren't too innovative, but I like them. I also like doing progressive 100s of fly drill where you go 25 dolphin kick, 50 3right arm only, 3 left arm only, 25 swim. I hope some of this helps! Let me know how it's going! Chlorini

:angel: :angel: thanks...gonna try that set tonight after work...thanks for the drills too

Chlorini I have been playing around on the fly and back and making pretty good progress. Still not the greatest negative splitter BUT I did a long course IM and managed to drop from a 3:30 to a 3:23!! I was pretty happy with the fly because I was able to kick the whole way without dying and the back was a bit better because I had been doing the transition sets.. I am not too much of a LC swimmer so I am looking forward to trying the IM's during SC meter/yard seasons! I try and do the set that you gave me at least once every week or so and was (for a VERY brief moment) actually considering a 200fly in october. ANYWAY I thank you for your input and who knows maybe someday I might just be a pretty good IM'er thanks bridge

Congratulations! Dropping 7 seconds is a big deal! I'm glad that the workouts seem to be helping, and I am sure you will really get to see an even bigger payoff during short course, like you said. But for now, great job!:party2: